


ghost got your fool tongue?

by blueaces



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, For the most part, Light-Hearted, M/M, Multi, yes johnny is a literal dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 13:31:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19888627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueaces/pseuds/blueaces
Summary: Johnny is always getting into trouble, but Jaehyun never thought it would ever lead him to believing in ghosts.





	ghost got your fool tongue?

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Person A’s dog got off his leash and ran into an abandoned hospital. Person B & C notice and try to help. Except they’re ghosts.
> 
> enjoy!

“Johnny! I'm home!” Immediately, a set of nails scratching against the cheap tile floors races towards him, and Jaehyun was met with his great dane zooming around the corner barreling towards him, as per usual. Jaehyun spreads out his arms, prepared for landing, and Johnny springs forward, a mouth gaping open with slobber dripping down the last thing Jaehyun saw before his face was full of fur.

“Hey boy, hey, are you ready to go for a walk?” The resounding bark in his ear an answer enough, Jaehyun already looping the large collar around an almost larger neck, a task in itself when Johnny continuously wriggled around the way he did. With the collar in place and raggedy leash attached, he walked back out of his apartment, or rather, he was dragged out, Johnny yanking on the leash which could only take so much more yanking as it was already on its last legs. Buying another leash became a passing thought every walk, Jaehyun thinking he would stop by the pet store _today!_ but Johnny somehow ran past the building each time and thus forgetful Jaehyun was born, too preoccupied with keeping himself and Johnny intact.

Maybe today would be the day, he thought as the town plaza came into view, old weathered bricks and tactfully positioned vines wrapping around the stones. The streetlights flickered on while the sky grew increasingly darker, whites and blues bleeding into greys and blacks and purples. He should have looked at the weather forecast for the night, but Jaehyun wouldn't be Jaehyun if he went anywhere prepared. Glancing up at the sky, the darker shades in the distance told a story future Jaehyun of a few minutes would have to worry about.

Except at that moment, present Jaehyun had another problem to deal with. Really, it was expected at this point.

The one glimpse at the sky was all Johnny needed to give one last tug, the final threads holding the leash together tearing apart completely and dashing off around the plaza into the surrounding forest.

“Johnny, no!” he yelled, to no avail, chasing after his dog. Not the best idea, with the foreboding rain, no umbrella, no flashlight, and no general sense of direction. Before getting home, the previous check on his phone told him his percentage was at twenty-seven, so it was due to die soon.

Basically, Jaehyun was kind of fucked.

With the wind picking up and Jaehyun bulldozing his way through the forest, branches smacked against any bare skin, the sting barely registering in his mind. He only knew which way to go by the amount of ruckus Johnny was making, loud barks and crunching leaves sending him in what he assumed was the right direction. Johnny probably thought this was a game, and Jaehyun would've cried at how cute that was if he wasn't terrified Johnny would win the game and be lost forever.

All of a sudden, Johnny's barking came to halt, and Jaehyun slowed down, trying to pick out any sounds that would lead him to his dog again. It was eerily quiet, what with the whistling of the wind and the beginnings of water droplets splashing on his skin being his only companions. Making noise seemed like a forbidden task with grim repercussions, but Johnny was worth the hundreds of ways to die horror movie style popping into Jaehyun’s head.

When the first step didn’t cause him to suddenly perish and join the decaying foliage on the ground, he trekked onward, figuring straight ahead was the best option if he didn’t want to be anymore lost than he already was. Thunder rumbles, occasional lightning strikes keeping him from stumbling over thick tree roots sticking out of the dirt, and effectively digging a little more fear into his heart. He quickens his pace, at the brink of a full out run as the rain comes down, heavy and blurring his vision.

A break in the trees appears, thinning out until he’s stepping into a wide clearing with a single run-down building, short enough to be obscured by the treetops if one was to be looking from far away. He’d known of the abandoned hospital since he was little, as it was a classic tale to tell the younger kids about evil spirits who eat the souls of anyone who dares to cross the hospital’s boundaries. An excellent way to keep the kids from wandering the woods, if they believed in such fables. Jaehyun, however, didn’t think much of these spirits except about how _unreal_ they must surely be. Who would want his soul, a child filled to the brim with puberty induced hormones and honey butter chips, but he did treasure his parent’s trust, so he never went against their wishes, no matter how much his pre-teen classmates tried to convince him to join one of their weekend excursions.

Yet here he stands years later, moved out of his childhood home and no parents to report back to of his whereabouts, knowing he’s about to do something very stupid in true Jaehyun style, unequipped to go seeking for Johnny in an unlit, possibly unstable building.

_Great._ Peering through what he assumes previously served as the front entrance into complete darkness, Jaehyun can’t think of a better way to spend his night than stuck in old creepy hospital searching for his troublesome dog. It’s going to be a long night.

_

Kun surveys the rain pouring down as he leans on a dusty wall adjacent to the single window in the room, water splattering past the empty pane onto the already stained floor.

“What’s on the agenda for today?”

From Ten’s upside-down position from the old rusty water pipe attached to the ceiling, his shrug rises higher than usual, his shoulders almost disappearing into his neck. “Who knows. Hang from this pipe until I can remember what headrushes feel like, maybe go find some trashed spray cans and finish the graffiti on the fifth floor.”

“Don’t tell me you are having another existential crisis.”

“Just because I like to color some disintegrating walls doesn’t mean I’m on the verge of questioning my existence.”

“That’s not what I-” Movement catches his attention out of the corner of his eye, stopping him from spiraling into one of those arguments with Ten that leave him with the ghost pulse of a heartbeat near his throat.

“Hey, is that… a dog?”

Ten scoffs, not even bothering to glance at Kun. “Yeah, and I'm alive and breathing.”

Kun smacks Ten on the shoulder hard enough to let him know this wasn’t a joke. “I'm serious, Ten!”

Sure enough, at the end of the corridor staring straight at them was the biggest dog Ten had ever laid his little ghost eyes on, and that was saying something since Kun and Ten once snuck into one of those dog shows the city held in the town hall. Well, snuck into most likely wasn't the correct term as they were already dead and just passed right through the walls. To say the dogs weren't the happiest to see them might've been an understatement, instant barking and a few bared teeth greeted them, but they waved in apology and sat down in the row of chairs anyways.

Perhaps this was payback for not leaving in that moment because the dog starts hurdling down the corridor, paws coming down hard and echoing around their ears uncomfortably. Ten and Kun take one look at each other before dashing in the opposite way.

They rush to lower levels thinking the stairs would slow the dog down, but it only serves to make him catch up faster, skipping numerous steps in large jumps. By the time they’ve reached the first floor, the dog is right at their backs, attempting to nip at their heels, but whining when his teeth doesn’t snag on skin.

Concentrated on the way the teeth brush right by Kun’s no longer existing tendon, he doesn’t notice a hand pulling him through one of the walls, the tingly feeling associated with phasing in and out of objects present in his stomach. The room is bare save for the cots lining the perimeter and a lone IV stand in the corner.

“Can’t we just-“ Ten’s cut off by the dog appearing in the doorway, head tilted as he waits to see if they would move and when they are too stunned to, he starts running again, and Ten is shoving Kun through the wall and hauling ass to the front of the hospital.

What they surely don’t expect is to pass someone taller than them by the entrance, soaking wet hair dripping into his face. “Hey! Is that your dog?!” The person doesn’t answer, and Ten only receives a scream sounding like the poor dude is choking before he’s following after them, or more than likely, following after his dog.

“Maybe we can corral in his dog somehow?” They’ve been tearing down hallways in an effort to lose the dog and his owner, but it’s gotten them nowhere and the used energy was starting do wear them out.

Ten yells in frustration. “Are you kidding me?”

“We can lead him to the third floor, you know there’s the room full of old equipment, it would slow him down!”

Ten chances a glance back at the dog, still in pursuit, his long tongue flapping with the speed. “Fine, whatever, but if we die again, I’m coming back to haunt your ass.”

_

The last thing Jaehyun expected was to find Johnny trying to drool all over two people cowering in the corner surrounded by tarnished steel carts and for the drool to completely go right through them.

He can’t say he ever really believed in ghosts, despite the best endeavors of his brother’s boyfriend, Renjun. No amount of shoddy video editing and ghastly made-up stories invading the internet could convince Jaehyun ghosts roamed the same plane of existence. Especially not Renjun’s retellings of old legends Sicheng whispered to him all those years ago under the safety of their covers.

“…and they were cursed to roam the roads forever. They say in the morning you can see two trails of footprints in the dirt, never to cross paths again.”

“Bro, that’s so sad.” Mark turned away to discreetly wipe at his eyes, while Renjun nodded solemnly, patting Mark’s thigh. Not attempting to hide his vaguely affronted expression, Jaehyun stepped over their crossed legs, escaping with the thin excuse of having something better to do like his physiology essay on muscle fatigue.

Jaehyun kind of wished his legs would give out at that precise moment, so he could crumple on the floor and play dead instead of having to make eye contact over Johnny’s right shoulder with the figure with old fashion round glasses perched on an upturned nose. Luckily, the person (ghost?) made the decision for him.

“Can you please call off your dog, he smells like he’s been running around in the rain.”

Caught off guard, he flounders for a bit since _did a ghost really just talk to him,_ but he’s able to stutter out, “Uh, Johnny come here!” When he turns to face Jaehyun, Johnny’s mouth opens in what he can only assume is a grin and plods over to him, nudging his head against his hip for pets. “You honestly don’t deserve pets after the stunt you just pulled,” he mutters under his breath, but he relents anyways because he’s a weak man and Johnny’s cuteness has him by the ears.

Back in the corner, the one with the glasses is helping the other with small stains of blood on the collar of his shirt stand up, dusting off blood sir's shoulders of any dirt, or whatever dirt could actually accumulate on a ghost person being (he's still questioning the whole ordeal). Abruptly, Glasses makes his way over to Jaehyun, shaking his pointer finger angrily.

"Excuse me, bozo, but what in the devil's name was that?"

Jaehyun tries not to comment on the insult, even if it did make him laugh on the inside. “I apologize for all this, I’m sure he wanted to have some fun with you guys once he caught sight of two people in the middle of nowhere. Also, related question: why can I see you now, but not earlier?"

“We were too busy escaping from that bear you call a dog to focus on making ourselves visible for you.”

Definitely ghosts. But that's not the first thing on Jaehyun's mind, surprisingly.

“Speaking of seeing, you actually need glasses?” He carefully omits the part about them being dead and not having the need to see when ghosts could just walk through anything virtually unharmed.

“Excuse _you_ , in our time, glasses were used for their intended use of vision improvement and not street fashion.”

As the ghosts had gotten closer to him, he realizes they have name tags pinned to their chests, Glasses being _Ten Lee_ and blood sir being _Qian Kun_ , who finally joins the conversation. “Thank god he died with glasses on or else I’d have to hear him whining all eternity about how he can’t see his own fingers.”

Shoving his hands into Kun’s face, Ten began to shake his hands furiously enough for them to only become wisps of white in Jaehyun’s eyes. “Hello?? Do you see this? Those things are practically invisible now, imagine without glasses. Poof the fingers have gone!”

“What a tragedy that would have been,” Kun says in the flattest tone.

Ten squints his eyes at Kun before he's facing Jaehyun again. "So Jaehyun." He quickly glances down to see, yup, he still has his own name tag on from his shift at the sports medicine store. "It's the twenty-first century, I'm sure you can read. They teach everyone that nowadays." Kun pokes Ten's shoulder, hard by the looks of the grimace on Ten's face.

Sending another glare at Kun, he picks up his wrist, feigning looking at the time. "Anyways, ten or so minutes have passed, and you haven't run away flinging holy water behind you. You’re taking this awfully well.”

“My brother and his boyfriend are huge believers in the supernatural, so it’s not the biggest surprise. Although if you told me something like vampires were real, then I’d have to politely reject your sentiment. Who would want to live off of blood forever?“

“Vampires _are_ real. Taeyong would be terribly offended by your statement.”

Before Jaehyun can even begin to ponder on the idea there are beings drinking a blood of some kind willingly, and _who the hell is Taeyong_ , Kun steps in, drawing his fingers through Ten’s hair in what was meant to be a placating manner, but causes him to huff over his now mussed hair instead. “You should stay until the rain passes.” Kun glances outside, trying to gauge what time it could possibly be. “And maybe until you can see the ground you’re walking on.”

Lightning flashes at that moment, and he finds himself nodding along vigorously, not too keen in heading back into the storm at this time of night.

Ten shuffles out of the room, speaking as he goes. "There's plenty of beds around here so find one to your liking so you and the demon can rest."

"His name is Johnny." Jaehyun and Kun follow him to the next room where, sure enough, there are a few cots, and he picks the ones away from the open windows, Johnny already curling up on the bed nearest to the door.

"And now it's demon."

"Don't mind him, he's always a little grumpy." Pouting, Ten stands against the wall with his arms crossed, but doesn’t disagree, and Kun sets himself down on the cot across from Jaehyun, letting his legs dangle over the side. "So tell me about yourself."

And so Jaehyun does. He has no other idea about how to pass the time with two ghosts so he starts blabbering about how he's a postgraduate at the nearby university, his thesis on injuries that leave a mark on more than just skin and the medicines which could help or worsen the patient's mental condition. He talks about his previous roommate, Sicheng, who kept to himself most of the time unless he came out to tend to the plants on the kitchen sill, Jaehyun catching him on more than one occasion whispering to the plants. He talks about Mark and Renjun, the crazy shit they get into at their lab, like the one time another student named Donghyuck let the mice out of their cages because he thought it was inhumane, and Mark had to spend the next couples of day waiting until someone screams to go wrangle up the mice.

In return, Kun tells him about his life in 1906, brewing different wines and beers and vodkas for the city folk in his own tavern. How he met Ten, the carpenter down the street, and because they were the only Asians in the city at the time, it was natural to be drawn to each other. The way the skies were clearer and the stars were brighter, and he and Ten liked to come into these very woods for the sake of peace and privacy, laying under trees to gaze at the thousands of stars lighting the sky. How they watched what the officials called a sanatorium be built up and hundreds of sick people filing through the doors every day. And how one day, it was Kun walking through those doors, tuberculosis they said, without knowing how much longer he would live. Ten visiting every day and keeping him company, despite Kun’s best bids to get him to stop. How not long after, it was both of them with cots right next to each other, and the rest he could say was history.

Jaehyun hadn’t realized he dozed off, too tired to worry about the wet clothes drying to his skin or bad first impressions because _god,_ he somehow fell asleep in the middle of a conversation. His back is slightly bent over the metal railing, ignoring the twinge of pain in his shoulders until the sun starts to peek out above the crest of trees and into the room, Ten and Kun still present as if they hadn’t moved at all.

With a warm smile, Kun tells him to visit any time. Ten stays silent, obviously still a little miffed at being chased by Johnny, but Kun elbows him in the side and a quiet _“I guess it would be nice of you to stop by,”_ slips out.

It’s not until they are down by the entrance, and Ten and Kun are turning to leave that Jaehyun taps Ten’s shoulder, or attempts to, as his finger just goes straight through him. “Is your name really just Ten Lee?”

Ten laughs, a deep kind that leaves Jaehyun a little more breathless than it should in a situation like this. "No one wanted to write my entire name on a small ass tag, but if you are interested, I could show you the patient files some time."

“Yes, maybe some time.”

Jaehyun thought he would be able to sneak into their apartment unnoticed, but that flies out the window when Mark steps out from the shadows, a yawn forming on his face.

“Dude, where have you been? I wasn’t sure whether to call the cops, so I called Renjun.” Said boy comes behind Mark, one arm wrapping around Mark’s waist and the other hand rubbing the sleep at his eyes.

“This better be good.” He grumbles, swaying on the spot and moving Mark with him.

“Sorry. Johnny took a bit of a detour and got us stranded.”

“I cannot believe…” The rest of his words are lost under his breath, muffled by pressing his mouth into Mark’s back, probably to prevent himself from saying something not the most generous. “Mark, come back to bed when you’re done with your dumbass brother.” They both watch Renjun plod back to their room, shutting the door loud enough to make Mark sheepishly smile.

Jaehyun raises an eyebrow at him. “Tough day at the labs?”

“Yeah, the new kid, Jisung, is a bit clumsy. Accidently dropped some of Renjun’s cultures he’s been taking data on the past week and had to restart. As you can see, he’s still not the happiest.” Talking about Renjun always left a twinkle in his eye, but it disappears when he turns an inquiring look to Jaehyun. “Is that all that happened tonight?”

Jaehyun’s brain does a hard pause.

Pros and Con of telling his brother ghosts are Real™

Pros:

  * The joy it would bring Mark to find out one of his fantasy beings were not just a figment of his wonderful imagination.
  * Mark excitedly asking questions about the ghosts with sincerity instead of the other way around with Jaehyun’s cynical remarks.



Cons:

  * Mark possibly calling him out on a prank and laughing at him because why would Jaehyun suddenly start believing ghosts?
  * Mark not thinking Jaehyun was pulling his leg and wanting to meet ghost Ten and Kun. The tickling notion in his brain telling him it wouldn’t be a good idea settles with a bad taste in his mouth for reasons not yet known.
  * Renjun 



Jaehyun would never hear the end of it from Renjun, how it’s so _obvious_ and how brainless Jaehyun is for denying the very blatant fact (in Renjun’s eyes) ghost do indeed exist. The relentless teasing he’s sure he’d have to tolerate for as long as Renjun’s around seals the deal in his mind.

With Renjun as the critical tiebreaker, Jaehyun shrugs his shoulders in what he hopes is nonchalance. “You know how Johnny is.”

Thankfully, Mark seems too tired to think past the general concept of Johnny getting into problems he can’t get out of without the help of Jaehyun, and just blinks slowly. “Okay well, I’m off to bed. You should too because you look like shit.”

_

Mulling over whether going back to an empty hospital, which is actually not so empty, in the middle of the woods was a sane idea or not didn’t take as much time as it should have. He’s back within the week, after finally buying Johnny a new leash he can’t gnaw through so easily, much to Ten and Kun’s thinly veiled surprise. (“ _No one ever comes back.” “And if they did, it was to try and exorcise us. Newsflash assholes, we aren’t evil. The greatest immoral thing Kun’s ever done was let Taeyong have too much alcohol.” “How was I supposed to know vampires could be lightweights!”)_

Most of the time he brings Johnny, unless Mark has Renjun at the apartment, who likes to wrap his tiny arms around Johnny’s ribcage whenever they’re watching a movie in the living room. Jaehyun thinks it’s an obsession with things bigger than him, although Renjun vehemently disagrees. The larger-than-life fox plushy he repeatedly drags from his own home to looming above Mark’s bed says otherwise.

Stories of how Johnny is notorious for sticking his big nose into places he shouldn’t come and go frequently, Johnny wagging his tail hard enough to thump on the ground in agreement. Ten finds these entertaining, doling out belly rubs to the dog himself whenever he thinks a moment is particularly amusing. On the other hand, Kun tries (emphasis on tries) to reprimand Johnny on new problems he’s created, Johnny staring soullessly at Kun before licking the daylights out of his face. The wetness from his saliva isn’t felt but the barest sliminess is, a given from Kun’s disgusted expression.

He does happen to meet Taeyong one day, a man of small stature and fiery red hair, but he doesn’t stay long, something about leaving to meet someone named Taeil who had been overloading on mangoes the past week so his blood could taste of them. Jaehyun makes sure his shiver goes unnoticed or at least he thinks it does until Ten is escorting Taeyong out, and Kun tries to pat his knee. All he feels is a brush of air that makes his skin clammy, not unlike how the nitrile gloves mandatory for anatomy lab used to stick to the sweatiness of his hands as he dug into the synthetic cadaver. Goosebumps prickle along the area Kun’s hand attempted to make contact with, and it isn’t the first time Jaehyun wishes he could feel his touches, Ten and his characteristic pokes to Jaehyun’s neck just to see him jump at the coldness included.

Feelings develop throughout the months, between bringing in new books for Kun and joining Ten in his painting adventures (he didn’t know how to paint for shit, but he tried his damn hardest, especially when his childish drawings left Ten clutching his stomach from laughing too hard). On the days he brought meals, they liked to watch him eat, saying the smells reaching their noses reminded them of the luxury of food under their tongues. Ten was the first one to ask for a bite, leaning into Jaehyun enough to make the offered spoon shake. It’s curry, the chunks of potato and beef visibly passing through and mixing with Ten’s mouth, distorting his features for a second until he swallows around nothing and the spoon is removed.

His face alights with joy, and he motions Kun over enthusiastically. “Kun! You have to try this, you can practically taste it!” Kun was next, nodding his head with as much delight as Ten, but strangely not taking his eyes off of Jaehyun even when the spoon is long gone from his mouth. With Ten having moved behind Jaehyun to curl his hands over his shoulders, he couldn’t decide which act left him the most stuttering, both equally damning. Their excitement spurs him on to start a tradition of Jaehyun feeding them, utensils swooping into their mouths, and then Jaehyun placing it right back into his own. He doesn’t like to let his mind wander into that dangerous territory, mixing spits and touching mouths, but it happens anyways involuntarily.

It’s ridiculous, if Jaehyun thinks too hard on it. Ten and Kun had been dead long before Jaehyun was even born. It would be like falling for the idea of someone long gone through stories told years ago except they are moving right in front of him, almost tangible and within reach.

But maybe it was the universe’s way of teasing him, taunting him, _haha you can’t touch them because they are dead!_ Of course it would be Jaehyun, the one who never believed in anything but sterile science, things proven by hard evidence, who would come to experience ghosts firsthand, tearing down every reasonable thought he’d ever had about the world. Of course it would be Jaehyun and his soft heart open to anyone, like the sweet sophomore he got paired up with in genetics during his junior year, getting close enough until he had the guts to ask out Jungwoo after their second to last lab (“ _Oh, Jaehyun… didn’t you know I’m dating Sicheng? Your roommate?” Damn Sicheng and his odd reclusive ass, so no he didn’t know.)._ Of course it would be Jaehyun, alive and with functioning organs, to become enamored with two ghosts in a relationship stretching from life to death.

Their strong bond formed within the walls of the hospital tying them there for as long as the earth rotated, not necessarily stuck, but their roaming was limited. Jaehyun couldn’t take them on dates too far away, and even if he could, people would see him either talking to himself or two translucent guys no one could touch. Pick his poison, he guesses. Jaehyun didn’t care what consensus the public invented about him, it was alright as long as Ten and Kun were beside him.

A perfect opportunity arises when the town hall announces they will be holding an art gallery based on autumnal pieces, the old and new. Suggesting an outing to Ten and Kun is easier than he planned on it being, both eagerly agreeing in a heartbeat. The town hall always allowed dogs no matter the event, so bringing Johnny along wasn’t a problem unless he _caused_ a problem. Jaehyun sternly warns Johnny that if he acts up and accidently destroys a piece of artwork, he won’t be coming home to any treats. In response, Johnny licks his palm twice, and he can only hope it was a sign of agreement and not a promise of mischief.

The town hall sections off a few of its connecting rooms to hold the gallery, a couple for the sculptures and ceramics and the rest for the paintings, drawings or photography. It’s not the most extravagant exhibit, mainly simple white walls and tile floors, but it doesn’t seem to bother Ten or Kun, too busy taking in the varying colors and shades bursting from the seams of each artwork. They stick together at first, quiet as they observe the first paintings in a row before being drawn away by individual pieces intriguing them.

Monet, Van Gogh, O’Keeffe, Klimt, and Rousseau are among the art there he recognizes, along with other artists Jaehyun wasn’t too familiar with. Plenty of the paintings display mellows hues usually associated with the season, large trees half in the process of changing colors, mixtures between oranges and green, or already completely full of the red leaves ready to sink to the dirt below. Then there are the paintings focused on people or animals in the same settings, and it’s noticeable the artists’ intentions were not the scenery, but the flexible beings front and center. Each person, each animal, tells a story the artist tries to convey through lines and strokes, detailing the facial expressions of a cherub gazing at something far into the distance or the pulling arm muscles of a woman holding a basket of fruit above her head or the deer paused in its movements, anticipating the artist to make the first move. Every piece comes together in its own way, and Jaehyun wonders if Ten and Kun see the paintings in the same light as him or if they have a different story in mind waiting to be asked about.

“This one reminds me of us.” Ten says it loud enough to draw the attention of Jaehyun and Kun, breaking them out of their own reveries. Coming up behind Ten, he reads the small plaque to the right side of the paintings telling him it’s _Paul Gauguin,_ _Landscape in Arles near the Alyscamps,[1888](https://nga.gov.au/exhibition/masterpiecesfromparis/images/400/191206.jpg). _

“How so?” Kun asks, fingers trailing down Ten’s arm.

“How could it not? Three ambiguous people taking a stroll out in nature, not unlike what we do. It’s missing the sarcophagi from the original Van Gogh paintings, which in my humble opinion is less gloom and doom, and makes it seem like death won’t separate us.

One look at Jaehyun is all it takes for the worry to be written plain as day on the both of them, Ten and Kun gathering closer to him for Kun to grasp onto the solidness of his hand, and for Ten to reach towards his face, cupping his cheeks to rub at the sudden tears building in his eyes. “What’s the matter?”

All the words he’s been withholding for weeks jumble in the forefront of his mind, whispers of the complete adoration he’s come to find for the two ghosts and the abnormal comfort the hospital gives him, desolation be damned because it’s the inhabitants who fill him with such wholehearted warmth he had never known before. Yet the only sentence his mouth allows him to vocalize is, “I appreciate you guys so much. That’s all.”

They leave not too long after that, Jaehyun’s vulnerable moment not entirely forgotten if the constant squeezes on his hands are telling. Johnny is in between Kun and Jaehyun, astoundingly having not made a scene for the entire vicinity to gawk at and by the sound of his yapping, very proud of himself for it. Once inside the forest, Ten and Kun materialize completely, only having been semi-substantial in quick moments inside the town hall to not be completely conspicuous. The silence is easy, no need to fill the void with conversation when they could fill it with each other’s presence and the wind softly blowing between the trees.

“Can we…?” The hospital staggers above them, creaking corners and the skittering of wildlife taking shelter during the night, but Jaehyun pays no mind when Ten is pointing to his cheek and then at Jaehyun. The lightbulb in his head blows its fuse at the implications, and he’s smiling widely, not holding back on its brightness.

“Of course.”

Ten and Kun share a look, a thousand words exchanged within a second, a quirk earned over the years of being together and knowing the other so deeply. He’s holding his breath and his heart wants to burst, but it doesn’t have the chance because Ten and Kun are each kissing a cheek, coolness caressing him and it’s the best moment of his life. “See you tomorrow?” Kun asks, and if he didn’t know any better, Jaehyun would think that was a blush rising on Kun’s own cheeks.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

So absorbed in his personal cloud nine, he almost misses his apartment complex coming into view, Johnny wagging his tail at the prospect of jumping onto Mark and pushing him to the floor to bother him until he becomes bored and moves on to the next exciting object, maybe Renjun if he’s there so he could feed him chicken from the pot of whatever food he was currently cooking. The shadow creeping up on him goes unnoticed, moonlight not enough to see past the dark crevices between buildings, but Johnny’s leash goes taut as he halts, whirling around to bark at who or what is behind Jaehyun.

Next thing he knows, Jaehyun is lying on the ground with the back of his head throbbing and wetness rolling down his neck, footsteps diminishing in the distance. Johnny continuously circles him and licks at different parts of his body intermediately to see if his consistent nudging would get Jaehyun to stand back up and resume their walk. The only thought Jaehyun can process through the cloudiness steadily fogging up his brain is if these were his last moments here, he wouldn’t have them any other way, just him and the dog he’s had since he was a puppy, staying by each other sides like it always has been and always will be.

Jaehyun doesn’t remember falling asleep.

He doesn’t remember much. Only the faintest rumbles of Johnny whining, and that he woke in a cold sweat, his bed unmade and not bending under his weight. And now he can see the white covers through his entire body.

It’s not as shocking as it could be, although it is unusual to be able to stick his hand into the middle of his bed and feel the carpet beneath his fingertips. Everything in his room is as he left it, the anatomy book open to a page on ankle tendons, the pencil he had dropped but never bothered to pick up still on the floor, and Johnny’s various toys scattered about the place. Sicheng’s plant he gave Jaehyun as a gift is on his work desk, looking a little worse for wear, but nonetheless alive.

The click of the doorknob turning startles him, but Mark entering becomes even more stricken than himself, the clothes he was holding spilling onto the carpet with soft thumps. “Jaehyun…”

Jaehyun removes his hand from the mattress and raises it in a wave. “Hey kiddo… how are you doing?”

“That’s a terrible question to ask in the current situation.”

Wincing, he motions Mark over, and his movements are slow like he doesn’t know how to put one foot in front of the other, yet he makes it to where Jaehyun is kneeling on the edge of his bed. “Sorry, I don’t exactly know how to go forward with this.” Looking past the misery riddling Mark’s face stresses Jaehyun to the point of no return, but he needs to see, needs to know… “Where’s Johnny?”

The sad smile Mark gives him says it all. “I haven’t seen Johnny since yesterday. He stopped eating the day you… you know… he just stayed in your room all the time.”

Something crashes in the kitchen, sounding like plates dropping in the sink, and Renjun scurries around the corner seconds later, hands dripping. “Mark, who are you talking to-” His words stop tumbling out once he gets a proper hold on the current situation: Mark standing in front of his very dead, very see-through brother.

“It sucks that you had to die for me to finally behold a ghost.” Mark scoffs in quiet disbelief and Jaehyun stares knowing he’s holding back. “I’m trying to be nonchalant to cover up the genuine grief I feel.”

“At least you’re honest.” He gestures for Renjun in the same manner he did with Mark, and he comes with interest, taking in Jaehyun’s entire face curiously, but the deep, purple eyebags give him away.

Telling two of the utmost important figures in his life he wasn’t staying infinitely in the apartment they shared tears a new line through Jaehyun, but it was for their benefit, to get used to the idea of Jaehyun no longer breathing in the same sense they did before he reintroduced himself into their lives, if he was allowed to do so. “I have to go. There’s two people waiting for me.”

Tears are brimming in Mark’s puffy eyes, and Renjun reaches for his hand in comfort. “I’ll come visit, I promise. Maybe you’ll become a little ghostie like me since you believed in them so hard. Not too soon though or I’ll kick your ass.”

Mark’s laugh is wet and sorrowful. “Don’t worry. Renjun would kill me again if I died in my twenties.” Renjun nods his head a little too quickly for the watery tracks not to be noticeable, and Jaehyun can’t take it anymore, using what substance he had leftover to yank them into his arms.

“I love you both.” Jaehyun’s whispering because it’s all he can handle without crying himself and he wants to stay indomitable for the sake of them all. “Please keep out of trouble and don’t give that Jisung kid too hard of a time, okay?” Renjun nods again, Mark following along when he feels his boyfriend’s hair nudge against his. The pressure in his chest becomes unbearable, so he rubs both their backs quickly before he returns his body to its original wispy state and phases through the walls until he feels the cool fall air lifting him up more than he’d like it to.

He guesses the stamina of fresh ghosts aren’t the best because the few minutes left him tired and sagging underneath the weight. Traveling in this form would save energy to materialize in front of Ten and Kun, and so he lets the breeze carry him through the streets, between the trees who bend closer in an effort to greet him, along the familiar hallways and stairs following the natural pull.

The almost solid form Jaehyun takes on could have fooled anyone who didn’t know any better. Kun wouldn’t have been able to tell if he didn’t see the graffiti behind Jaehyun flickering through his stomach. His own would have churned had there been any contents in his long dried-out one. It’s Ten who raises a hand to grip onto Jaehyun’s, and when there’s something substantial to intertwine his fingers with, both Ten and Kun gasp, the unnecessary air intake rattling around their lungs before passing out in between their ribs.

“What happened to you?”

That dimpled smile grows on his face, radiate even in his current state, and shrugs. “It doesn’t matter. I’m here.”

Kun feels Ten struggling to grasp his hand without looking, and in finally succeeding, pulling Jaehyun and Kun towards him. If Kun had any bones in his body, they would have crushed to bits in the hug the two of them got him in, but Kun couldn’t find it in himself to care because he can _feel_ every part of Jaehyun. From the exposed skin of his collar to the tucked-in shirt billowing against Kun’s stomach in a nonexistent breeze. Even the blood forever trickling down the back of Jaehyun neck as Kun’s fingers curl around the hairs at his nape. Kun has to glance at them to make sure they aren’t coated in the dark red substance, exhaling in relief when they come back as clean as the day he died.

Minutes pass or maybe it’s hours, days, time doesn’t matter like it did before when they were alive, and Ten releases them from his tight grip enough to be able to look straight into Jaehyun’s eyes. “Where’s Johnny?”

Jaehyun scrunches up his face in confusion, eyebrows furrowing. “I don’t know. Was kinda riding on him being here already.”

As if on cue, thunderous footsteps ring out from the hall, and it’s mere seconds until Johnny is skidding past the door, running too fast to stop himself on time. Then he’s inside the room, nails clicking against the floor the one thing Ten can fixate on before Johnny bowls all three of them over, Ten directly underneath his mouth, and this time the drool actually settles into his shirt, darkening the indigo material.

“Gross.” There’s no bite to his word, if the delight spreading over his face is any indication. Ten sees more pets in Johnny’s future, with the newfound ability working in their favor.

“It’s best if you get used to it. Johnny doesn’t seem like he’ll be going anywhere.”

From the right of Ten, Kun speaks up for the first time since Jaehyun appeared, turning to gaze at him over Ten’s chest and Johnny’s front legs. “And you?”

“Where else is there for me to be?” There’s a twinkle in his eyes Kun can’t wait to stare into all eternity, and with Ten reaching out for both their hands around Johnny, he knows the sentiment is shared. 

**Author's Note:**

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